Baby naming help, compared honestly — including the free options
There are six broadly different ways to get help naming a baby, and they cost anywhere from nothing to thirty thousand dollars. We sell one of them. So read this for what it is: a comparison written by an interested party. Which is exactly why the free options come first, and why the section on our own product says out loud where it falls down.
Last updated: August 4, 2026
The short version
- Start free. The U.S. Social Security Administration publishes the national baby-name dataset back to 1880, free to anyone. Plenty of families need nothing more.
- Generators and swipe apps are good at volume and at showing two people where their tastes overlap. They are not built to decide.
- AI chatbots are superb brainstormers and unreliable narrators. They state ranks and meanings confidently, with no source, and those specifics are often wrong.
- A human consultant buys you a conversation. Published prices run roughly $100–$400 for a list, $500–$2,000 for packages, up to $10,000–$30,000 bespoke.
- Paid reports, ours included, are for a decision problem, not an ideas problem. If your problem is "we have no ideas", don't buy one yet.
First, work out which problem you have
One distinction decides almost everything here. An ideas problem means nothing has moved you yet. A decision problem means you have twelve names you like and can't narrow them. A deadlock means you and your partner have different favourites and neither wants to be the one who gives in. A Momcozy poll reported that about half of parents disagreed with their partner about what to name their baby, so the third camp is the majority.
Nearly everything sold as naming help solves the first problem. Very little solves the third. Keep asking one question as you read: does this end with a name, or with a longer list?
1. Free name databases and official popularity data
What it is. Searchable name sites with meanings, origins and rankings, and underneath many of them, government data. The U.S. Social Security Administration publishes the national baby-names dataset every year, free, back to 1880. Anyone can download it.
Cost. Nothing.
Good at. Browsing, checking a rank, meeting names you'd never have thought of, and finding out whether a name you believe is unusual is quietly everywhere.
Where it falls down. Meaning quality varies wildly between sites, and folk etymology is everywhere — a pretty invented origin spreads faster than a careful "uncertain, two competing theories". And a database has no model of your family: not your surname, not the name your mother already vetoed, not the sibling. It shows you the world. It doesn't narrow it.
Use it if: you're anyone, at any stage. Many families need nothing beyond a free database and a long walk, and that's a good outcome. One habit worth adopting: read a name across three decades, not one year. In a 2020 Mumsnet survey the top reason parents regretted a name was that it felt too common (25%) — free to check in advance.
Names Done Right is an independent service. We use the Social Security Administration's public dataset because it is public and anyone may. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any government agency.
2. Name generators and matching apps
What it is. Tools that produce names from filters — style, origin, first letter, syllables — plus swipe apps where two partners swipe privately and the app shows the names you both liked.
Cost. Free, with paid tiers on some.
Good at. Volume, very low friction, and fun, which is not nothing at eleven at night. The swipe apps also do something real: they surface overlap between two people without either of you having to defend a name out loud.
Where it falls down. The output is unranked and undifferentiated — two hundred names, a bigger pile. A swipe is a snap reaction, not a considered judgement, so a match tells you two people had a positive half-second. Almost none of these tools carry data you can trace to a source. They generate rather than decide.
Use it if: you're early and need raw material, or you want a shared activity that isn't another argument. Some couples solve the whole thing this way and never spend a penny.
3. Forums and social communities
What it is. Naming forums and large parenting communities. You post a shortlist and people respond.
Cost. Free.
Good at. Taste and nuance no database holds. Someone will spot the connotation you missed: the playground rhyme, the regional slang, the association in a country you've never lived in. Some regulars know more name history than most published books.
Where it falls down. You are inviting strangers to critique your child's name. The loudest opinion is not the best one, and the reply pool skews to people with the strongest feelings. And you can't un-hear a cruel comment — parents drop names they'd loved for months because thirty strangers called them dated. The forum doesn't live with the outcome.
Use it if: you have thick skin and a specific question. Ask "does this rhyme with anything awful in British English?" rather than "rate my list". A narrow question gets you expertise. An open one gets you a vote.
4. AI chatbots
What it is. What most people reading this have already tried. Open a chat, describe your taste, ask.
Cost. Free, with paid tiers.
Good at. Instant, conversational, endlessly patient, available at three in the morning without judging you. Strong at brainstorming, and strong at explaining a trade-off — ask one to argue both sides of a name and it will, which is often how you hear your own objection.
Where it falls down. The failure mode is confident invention, not stupidity, and invention is much harder to notice. It will state a popularity rank, a data year or a meaning with complete assurance and no source, and those specifics are frequently wrong. Ask where Naomi sits in the U.S. rankings and you'll get a crisp number; ask tomorrow and you may get a different one with the same certainty. Nothing checks it against the official dataset first. It also forgets your constraints between sessions, and it has no way to reconcile two people.
Use it if: you want the best free brainstorming partner ever built and you treat every fact as unverified. Ask for the source and the data year behind any rank it quotes. If it can't give you one you can look up, treat the number as decoration.
Start with one name, free
If there's a name already circling in your head, run it through a free Name Check. You get an in-depth read on that single name: its honest meaning and origin, its real U.S. popularity rank and trend, how it flows with your surname, the initials it produces, the nicknames it invites, and how it sits beside a sibling's name. No card, no obligation.
The Name Check is an analysis of one name, not a name generator.
5. Human baby name consultants
What it is. A person you hire. A long intake questionnaire, a curated list, and one or more live conversations where you react and they adjust.
Cost. Published pricing spans roughly $100–$400 for a list or single consultation, $500–$2,000 for multi-round packages, and $10,000–$30,000 for bespoke engagements, as reported in coverage from outlets including Entrepreneur, Fox News and Inside Edition. Prices change and vary by practitioner. Full tier-by-tier breakdown: what a baby name consultant costs.
Good at. A real conversation. A skilled consultant hears the hesitation in your voice when you say a name aloud and changes direction on the spot, which no written product can do. Also the right answer for awkward constraints, and for being held through a whole pregnancy.
Where it falls down. Price, and availability. Good ones book out.
Use it if: you know you think out loud, or your constraint needs a human to reason through with you.
6. A data-grounded naming report — this is us
Full disclosure, in the same terms we've used on everyone else. Names Done Right is not a consultant and we don't claim to be one. Our homepage says that in one line.
What it is. A structured report, not an engagement. About ten minutes of guided intake, then a shortlist of roughly fifteen to eighteen names, each with its real U.S. popularity rank and trend computed from official data, its meaning and origin with disputes flagged rather than smoothed over, nicknames, a surname-flow and initials check, sibling fit, and a specific note on why it fits your family. Then the part built for deadlocks: you and your partner each privately rank the shortlist on your own link, neither seeing the other's order until both submit. We reconcile the two into what you already agree on, plus the bridge names worth a real conversation. We never declare a winner.
Cost. $149 for The Report. $299 adds a printed keepsake book. $597 adds a live 15–30 minute naming call and a hardcover edition. One time, no subscription, no card on file. It arrives as a scheduled reveal by email, usually a few hours after intake.
Where it falls down, said out loud. It is not a live conversation — except on the $597 tier, nobody talks to you. It is not free. And it's the wrong purchase if what you want is a person to think with. Hire one.
Use it if: your problem is deciding rather than generating, and you'd rather pay a fixed price than book hours. You can read exactly how the pipeline works first.
All six, side by side
The fifth column matters most, and nobody else puts it on a comparison table.
| Option | Typical cost | Verified popularity data? | Handles both parents? | Decides or generates? | Try before you pay? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free databases & official data | Free | Official ranks yes; meanings vary widely | No | Neither — you browse | Free throughout |
| Generators & matching apps | Free; some paid tiers | Rarely, and rarely sourced | Swipe apps show overlap only | Generates | Free throughout |
| Forums & communities | Free | No — opinion, not data | No | Opinions, not a process | Free throughout |
| AI chatbots | Free; paid tiers exist | No — states numbers without sources | No memory between sessions | Brainstorms; won't finish it | Free throughout |
| Human consultants | ~$100–$400 list or consult; $500–$2,000 packages; up to $10,000–$30,000 bespoke | Varies — ask | Usually whoever is on the call | Decides with you, in conversation | Rare |
| Data-grounded report (us) | $149 / $299 / $597, one time | Yes — computed from official data | Yes — private ranking, then reconciliation | Built to finish the decision | Yes — free check on one name |
How to pick between them
Match the tool to the problem, not to the price.
- No ideas yet. Free databases, a generator, one narrow forum question. Spend nothing. If you've read every list on the internet and nothing has moved you, that's where a human curator earns their fee.
- Too many ideas. Nothing that generates more names will help; it deepens the pile. You need a process that eliminates — the full step-by-step process is free to read.
- A partner deadlock. You need something that reconciles two rankings without declaring a winner, because the winner-and-loser framing is the actual damage. Start with what to do when you can't agree.
- One awkward constraint. Three languages and two alphabets, or a grandmother's name you want to honour without using outright. That's a judgement call. Buy a human.
- You want certainty, not just an end. Check what produces regret later: how common it really is, how the full name sounds aloud, the initials, and the nickname a school will land on regardless.
What we can't tell you yet
Names Done Right is new. We have no customer reviews to show you. No testimonials, no star ratings, no "trusted by ten thousand families". Not because we're hiding them — because they don't exist yet. Any brand-new service showing you a wall of glowing quotes made them up, and you should walk away from it.
That's exactly why the free Name Check exists, and why it's a real in-depth read on one name rather than a teaser. It's the only honest way for a new service to prove anything: show the work before asking for money. It's also why every paid order carries one free revision and a 14-day money-back guarantee, and why the whole price sits on one page with no upsell at checkout.
We also don't know yet what share of couples the private tiebreaker resolves on the first pass, because we haven't run enough of them to quote a number we'd stand behind. When we know, we'll publish it, including if it's unflattering.
So don't take our word for any of it. Read the complete sample report end to end, and run the free check on a name you already care about — Mila, Arlo, or something nobody has suggested yet. Then judge the output.
When you want the whole decision handled
The Report is $149, one time: a personalised shortlist with checkable data behind every name, the surname and initials and sibling checks, and a private partner tiebreaker that reconciles two rankings instead of picking a winner. Deeper tiers add a printed book, and a live naming call with a hardcover edition. If you're unsure, don't start here — start with the free check on one name.
Free Name Check first · one free revision · 14-day money-back · one-time payment, no subscription · secure Stripe checkout
Common questions
Is a baby naming service worth it?
It depends which problem you have. If you have no names yet, usually not: free databases, generators and forums hand you raw material at no cost. If you already have a list you can't narrow, or you and your partner keep landing on different favourites, a structured process earns its price, because that's the part nothing free is built to do.
Can't I just use a free name generator?
Often yes, and some couples finish the whole job that way without spending anything. Generators and swipe apps are genuinely good at volume and at surfacing names two people both liked. What they don't do is rank, verify or decide. If more names would help you, use one. If more names is the problem, it won't.
Are AI chatbots good at baby names?
They're excellent brainstormers and unreliable narrators. A chatbot will produce fifty names in a style you described in one sentence. The failure mode is confident invention, not stupidity: it states ranks, data years and meanings with complete assurance and no source, and those specifics are frequently wrong. Use it for ideas, then verify every factual claim against the published Social Security Administration data.
What's the cheapest way to get real help?
Free, in this order. Look your shortlist up in the SSA's published dataset and read the whole trend line, not this year's rank. Say each full name aloud with your surname twenty times and write down the initials. Ask a forum one narrow factual question rather than for a verdict. Then run one name through our free Name Check. If that settles it, you never needed to pay anyone, including us.
Why should I trust a brand new service?
You shouldn't, on our say-so. Names Done Right is new and we have no customer reviews, testimonials or ratings to show you, because they don't exist yet. Any brand-new service showing you glowing quotes is showing you something it made up. What we offer instead is evidence you can inspect before paying: a complete sample report, a free in-depth check on one name, published sources behind every number, one free revision and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
One honest closing note
No service on this page — free, paid, or thirty thousand dollars — can tell you there is one correct name and that this is it. Names are subjective, the choice is always and only yours, and a name does not decide a child's life. What a good process can honestly offer is narrower: that you'll choose together, with real information instead of guesses, and won't lie awake afterwards wondering what you forgot to check.